13, June 2017

BirdLife International, a conservation organisation, has recognized three new sites in Goa as hotspots for protection. The sites have been added to their list of “Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas”.

Key facts:

The inclusion of these ecological hotspots in a new book come after systematic data collection by the Goa Bird Conservation Network (GBCN).

Declaring a site as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area does not ensure that the site gets legal protection or becomes inaccessible to people.

Instead BirdLife International encourages national and State governments to recognise the areas as sites of vital importance for conservation of wildlife and to empower local community-based conservation initiatives.

Birdlife international:

BirdLife International (formerly the International Council for Bird Preservation) is a global partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. It is the world’s largest partnership of conservation organisations, with over 120 partner organisations.

BirdLife International publishes a quarterly magazine, World Birdwatch, which contains recent news and authoritative articles about birds, their habitats, and their conservation around the world.

BirdLife International is the official Red List authority for birds, for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has entered into an agreement with the Metal Industries Development Institute (MIDI), Ethiopia to implement a twinning programme. The MoU is aimed at R&D capacity building of MIDI.

CSIR has clinched this multi-million US dollar assignment through a process where many international organisations were considered.

The twinning is one of the largest programs (in terms of contractual amount) between a CSIR institute and a foreign entity.

CSIR:

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), established in 1942, is an autonomous body and the largest research and development (R&D) organisation in India.

Although it is mainly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it operates as an autonomous body registered under the Registration of Societies Act of 1860.

The research and development activities of CSIR includes aerospace engineering, Structural engineering, ocean sciences, Life sciences, metallurgy, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather, and environment.

–

Panel to study free movement along Myanmar border

Source: The Hindu

The Union Home Ministry has constituted another committee to examine methods to curb the misuse of free movement along the Myanmar border, indicating a significant shift in India’s policy towards Myanmar, a friendly country, with which it shares unfenced borders and unhindered movement of people across the border.

Free movement regime is being misused by militants and trans-border criminals who smuggle weapons, contraband goods and fake Indian currency notes. Taking advantage of the free-movement regime, occasionally they enter India, commit crimes and escape to their relatively safer hideouts.

Free movement regime (FMR):

The formation of Myanmar as a separate State in 1935 and decolonisation of the sub-continent in 1947 divided ethnic communities living along the Indo-Myanmar border.

These communities, particularly Nagas, found the newly created boundary to be inconsistent with the traditional limits of the region they inhabited. And they felt a deep sense of insecurity because they became relegated to the status of ethnic minorities on both sides of the border.

To address their concerns and enable greater interaction among them, the Indian and Myanmarese governments established the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allowed Nagas to travel 16 kilometres across the border on either side without any visa requirements.

Background:

India shares 1,643-km long border with Myanmar that passes through four states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

–

Nalanda model of water conservation chosen for national award

Source: The Hindu

A model of water conservation adopted successfully by the authorities in Nalanda district of south central Bihar, has been selected for the national award for excellence in the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee programme (MGNREGP), by the ministry of rural development.

The award for excellence will be conferred on ‘Project Jal Sanchay’, the water conservation model.

Project Jal Sanchay:

‘Project jal sanchay’ was launched under MGRNREGP, to offer farmers a wide spectrum of solutions to water crisis. Under this, check dams were created and traditional Aahar-Pyne irrigation system and traditional water bodies were desilted and renovated, accompanied by campaigns to create awareness about rainwater harvesting.

The water conservation project has not only improved the availability of water but has also positively impacted farm production in the areas covered by the project.

Vinoba IAS Academy is one of the leading centers dedicated to the noble objective of training and tutoring the civil service aspirants. Our aim is to not just provide the educational coaching but also to walk the student step by step through the much needed detailed guidance, touching every aspect of training for the exams.